


they say love is pain / well darling, let’s hurt tonight

by Skyson



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Anger, Angst, F/M, First Time, Forgiveness, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Song Inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 02:08:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13626327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyson/pseuds/Skyson
Summary: Coulson makes a rash decision, and Daisy isn’t too happy with him.Then she finds out that Coulson has made another dumb decision, and she’s even more unhappy with him. Even still, she’ll do anything to save him.Just as she knows that he’ll do anything to save her. [Post 5x10]





	they say love is pain / well darling, let’s hurt tonight

**Author's Note:**

> _Let’s Hurt Tonight - OneRepublic_
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> This song has been in my writing playlist for quite a long time. After watching episode 5x10, I decided to finally write something for it.

_When, when we came home_  
_Worn to the bones_  
_I told myself, "this could get rough"_  
_And when, when I was off, which happened a lot_  
_You came to me and said, "that's enough"_

 _Oh I know that this love is pain_  
_But we can't cut it from out these veins, no_

 _So I'll hit the lights and you lock the doors_  
_We ain't leaving this room 'til we bust the mold_  
_Don't walk away, don't roll your eyes_  
_They say love is pain, well darling, let's hurt tonight_

 _When, when you came home_  
_Worn to the bones_  
_I told myself, "this could be rough"_

 _Oh, I know you're feeling insane_  
_Tell me something that I can explain, oh_

 _I'll hit the lights and you lock the doors_  
_Tell me all of the things that you couldn't before_  
_Don't walk away, don't roll your eyes_  
_They say love is pain, well darling, let's hurt tonight_  
_If this love is pain, well darling, let's hurt, oh tonight_

 _So you hit the lights and I'll lock the doors_  
_Let's say all of the things that we couldn't before_  
_Won't walk away, won't roll my eyes_  
_They say love is pain, well darling, let's hurt tonight_  
_If this love is pain, then honey let's love tonight_

* * *

 

Daisy startled awake suddenly, scrambling in the seat she was half-lounged in.

“Daisy,” Coulson breathed, relieved, and she immediately knew where she was. Or more importantly, when she was. “You’re —”

“What the actual _fuck_ , Coulson!” Daisy hissed, jumping to her feet. They were in the Zephyr, it seemed, and it took her a minute to gather her balance. Once she did, though, she stepped up to Coulson and shoved her hands against his chest, pushing him back against the wall.

He grimaced painfully when he bounced a little against it, which she noted somewhere in the back of her mind, but she was far too pissed at him right now to care about if she’d hurt him.

“What the _hell_  do you think you’re _doing_?” She shouted, shoving at him again, pushing him roughly against the wall again. “Where are we going?” She demanded, grabbing at his jacket. He was still wearing the dirty and torn one from before, so she figured she couldn’t have been unconscious for too long. “How _dare_  you bring me here when you _know_  that I could —”

“You won’t!” Coulson interrupted her, bringing his arms around quickly and breaking her hold of him. It was a rough gesture, but not intended to hurt her. Still, it was a sparring move. And Daisy was _pissed_.

“You _cannot_  know that,” She shouted, pushing at him again. His grimace was more pronounced, and he brushed her arms away again.

She twisted her elbow to revert the move on him, and he automatically curled his arm around hers to hold her still.

“I wasn’t going to leave you back there!” Coulson shouted back, his expression vehement.

Her anger momentarily cooled only because of her surprise at his emotion. She’d caught a glimpse of this back on the station when she’d first announced her intentions to stay, but this... this was different.

“Maybe you won’t ever forgive me for this but there was no way in hell I would have ever forgiven myself for leaving you back there,”

“It wasn’t your call to make!” She tried to yank her arm free.

“You made it my call!” He retorted, tightening his hold. She glared at him for a moment, then without warning twisted to wrap her leg around the back of his knee and tug, rolling him down onto the floor and immediately putting herself on top of him when his grip on her arm loosened.

 

 

 **———**  


Another muffled clanging thump sounded through the walls of the plane, and Mack shared a weary look with May and Simmons.

“Are they... fighting?” Mack wondered, barely able to fathom it.

“Well, I highly doubt they’re having wild sex right now.” May replied dryly, distracted, working quickly at the console to make sure the plane’s shields were up and running and they were completely off the radar.

After yet another scuffling thunk, Mack glanced toward the hall that led toward the loading bay of the plane.

“Should we go make sure they don’t kill each other?” He questioned hesitantly. He might’ve just had a knock-down fight with a Kree, but even that was favorable to imaging getting in the middle of a fight between Daisy and Coulson. He’s worked with the both of them for a long time now, but he’d never once seen — or heard — them duke it out like this.

“They’ll be fine. I’m sure they’d have wild sex before they ever got close to killing each other.” May responded, still distracted as she focused entirely on making sure the plane was as safe a haven as it could be for them right now.

Mack made a face at that, but didn’t press the issue, though he continued to look worriedly toward the hall.

“If they keep banging around like that though, won’t sonar be able to pick us up?” Elena pointed out, and May cursed.

“You’re right.” She gave them both an exhausted, but resolved, expression. “I’ll go.” She sighed, checked that her Icer was loaded, and stalked down the hallway.

 

 

 **———**  


“I hate it,” Daisy grunted, as she fought away Coulson’s attempt at a hold and got her feet against him to push him off of her, “when you,” she fended off another hold, just barely, “make my choices... for me!”

“You act as if your life is meaningless!” Coulson argued, managing to get a hold of her arm and lock it behind her. “I’ve only ever done what I could to save you!”

She elbowed him in the stomach, and he released a rush of air in surprise, his grip on her slackening. She used the opportunity to slide away and get a couple feet of distance between them. They were both out of breath, and no doubt bruised, by now.

“It’s _my_  life, Phil!” She jabbed her finger at him, making him flinch and take half a step back in preparation that she might come at him again. “I explicitly ask you to stay behind, to not follow me, to let me go, to let _me_  stay behind — and not _once_  have you ever listened to me!”

“What happens when I do follow you, Daisy?” Coulson challenged, stepping closer to her suddenly. She tensed and curled her fingers into fists, but didn’t back down. He was glaring at her, almost nose-to-nose with her, out of breath and sweaty but there was something terrifyingly dreadful in his gaze that made her stand very still. “All these years and I’m not dead yet, and neither are you! You think I’m going to stop following you _now_?” He snorted derisively at that.

“Death follows me, Coulson.” She reminded him darkly. “People have been saying that about me my entire life. Would you like a complete list? It might take me a while. There was Trip, of course. Raina, who may not have been a great person but she didn’t deserve to die. My mother. Lincoln. Ward — fucking more than once, regardless of his ever-changing status as ‘asshole’. Dr. Garner. Eric Koenig. Not to mention an entire village of people,”

“None of those were your fault,” Coulson argued, and Daisy shook her head before he could finish, having heard this from him before.

“There’s only one damn commonality between all of them, Phil.” She raised her eyebrows pointedly, and took a step back from him, gesturing toward herself. “Me. Maybe I don’t kill them directly, but I’m hella bad luck.”

“We can stop it from happening, Daisy, we at least have an idea,”

She bristled again, remembering Robin’s father, and she grabbed the front of Coulson’s shirt in both fists.

“I thought I had an idea about Charles Hinton, and look where that got him,” She snarled.

“And that happened because you refused to ask for help!” He shot back. “You just _had_  to be the one; ‘I saw it, it was me there with him, I have to do it’,” He made that scoffing snorting sound again, and Daisy slapped him across his jaw before she even fully considered the action. They were both a little shocked by the move, but it didn’t abate Daisy’s anger.

“You might have well signed the death certificate for Earth as we know it.” Daisy muttered at him, half-unable to look at him anymore. “Congratulations.”

“Damn it, Daisy, why can’t you believe me?!” Coulson huffed in annoyance when she let go of his shirt and turned her back to him. “We. Can. Stop. It.”

“‘ _It_ ’ is me.” Daisy reminded him, turning back around, challenging him. “What happens when ‘stopping it’ means taking me out?”

“It won’t come to that.” He immediately replied, and she rolled her eyes at his predictability.

“ _If_ , it does.” She insisted, and he pressed his lips together and shook his head defiantly.

“Damn it, Coulson,” Daisy began hotly, but was interrupted by May appearing from the hallway.

“If it comes to that, I’ll be here to Ice the both of you.” May informed them both very dryly, shooting Daisy in the shoulder and then Coulson. They both slumped to the floor, and she stared at them for a moment before she got on the intercom system in the wall. “Mack, meet me in the loading bay. I’ve got a couple of packages I need help securing away.”

 

 

 **———**  


The next time Daisy awoke, it was slowly, and with a groan. With the adrenalin of her anger gone, she realized just how sore she was. Fighting their way out of the Lighthouse and then fighting with Coulson had exhausted her body.

She opened her eyes, not moving any part of her body yet. She didn’t have to; she knew where she was. The containment pod on the Zephyr. Outside the window she could see the loading bay, but it was devoid of any other people.

“Even if we were all that was left,” Coulson murmured quietly, unapologetically, noticing that she was awake, “the last two people, I would do whatever I could to make sure you lived.”

“Even if that meant sacrificing yourself.” She stated knowingly, shaking her head slowly. She turned to look at him; he was sitting on the bed in the opposite corner of the pod, slumped against the wall. He looked as exhausted as she felt.

“Whatever it takes.”

“I don’t want you to be a martyr for me.” She insisted, and he quickly put in,

“Well that doesn’t mean you get to play martyr, either.”

She blinked at him, not understanding why he wasn’t seeing this clearly.

“Coulson, this isn’t about me being a martyr. This is about the very real possibility that I cause _the end of the world_.”

“You don’t know that for certain,”

“I was at the —”

“In the middle of it all, yeah, I know,” He frowned in frustration, though it didn’t seem to be directed toward her. “But maybe you were there because you were trying to stop it.”

“I’m Quake. The Earth, literally, shattered apart — and I’m at the epicenter of it, and you think that —” Her laugh held no humor in it. “Phil, the odds are very much against you, there.”

“They always are.” He muttered, and looked away from her. He grimaced slightly, bringing his hand up to his chest.

Daisy frowned deeply, remembering the way he’d reacted while they’d been pushing each other around.

“Did I hurt you?” She asked softly. He shook his head immediately, but then hesitated.

“Well, you do know how to pack a punch,” He chuckled carefully.

“May did train me well.” She replied, pointedly reminding him of their last conversation at the Lighthouse. He pressed his lips together tightly. He wasn’t going to apologize for what he did, she knew that. He was utterly convinced that he was doing the right thing.

“That Kree got me good, but I’ll be fine, it’s just bruised,”

“You said it was just a wardrobe malfunction — geez, Phil, if you’re injured you shouldn’t be dropping jokes about it!” She got to her feet, but hesitated when he noticeably pressed himself back into the corner of the pod. Her eyes roved over his form, trying to check for any visible wounds.

“It was just a wardrobe —”

“Holy shit, what the hell is that?” Daisy demanded, stepping closer and pushing his hands away from his chest. He half-heartedly fought her, but she managed to pull aside the ripped parts of his shirt.

He froze as the extent of it was fully revealed. His scar was dark, angry looking, with black veins spidering out from it in every direction. They were beginning to creep up across his collarbone, nearing his neck, and soon he wouldn’t be able to hide it so easily.

“Fucking hell.” Daisy breathed, crouching down in front of Coulson, touching one hand to her mouth as she held his shirt out of the way. “Did the Kree do this?” She whispered. She reached out to gingerly touch his skin just to the right of his scar, and he flinched. She pulled her fingers back slightly. “Sorry, does it hurt?”

“ _That_  Kree didn’t do this, no.” Coulson admitted wryly, his nerves rattling with how exposed he felt. “And no, it doesn’t... hurt, exactly.”

“It looks bad.” She lifted her gaze up to his eyes. “It’s bad, isn’t it.”

He merely returned her gaze, which told her more than enough. She bit her lip and looked back at his chest, hesitatingly reaching out again. He didn’t stop her, so she carefully brushed her thumb against the spidery lines, and the ridge of his scar.

“It’s the serum, isn’t it,” She realized, noting how the blackness seemed to be emanating from his old wound. “It’s poisoning you.”

“That’s my best guess, yes.” Coulson said carefully, trying to keep his voice from trembling.

“Your best —” Daisy looked up at him sharply. “Simmons doesn’t know about this?” She demanded.

“You’re the only one.” He admitted, knowing she was about to get pissed at him again.

Sure enough, she gaped a bit and stood up straight, taking a step back from him.

“You’ve kept this a secret?!” She exclaimed. “How long has this been happening?!”

“We’ve been a little busy,”

“Dammit, Phil — _how long_.” She growled, clenching her fists by her sides. She wanted to hit him again, but knowing now... she didn’t want to hurt him worse.

“I don’t know; with the time travel and everything it’s kind of hard to keep track —”

She made a noise in her throat and took half a step toward him, and he quickly said,

“Months! I don’t know; months. I first noticed it...” He sighed. “I first noticed it sometime while Mack and I were hunting down the Ghost Rider.”

Daisy’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to say something, closed it, then opened it again. She couldn’t decide what she wanted to say first; her voice caught in her throat.

“It started off slow, and I wasn’t sure what it was at first. I figured maybe it had somehow gotten infected, but that wouldn’t make sense. It’s an older wound that’s been closed up for years now. And it never hurt, not really. It was kind of easy to ignore.”

“ _Ignore_?” She hissed in a strangled tone of voice.

“But then it started spreading faster,” He continued, hoping that by still explaining she would hold off on beating him senseless for his stupidity. “And it... I don’t know, aches. Like when you have the flu and your bones ache deep down, and your body is just tired all of the time.”

“Holy shit.” Daisy muttered to herself. “Holy shit.” Then, louder and angrier, “You’re fucking _dying_ , Coulson! Your body is tired because it’s _killing you_ , and you _know_  it, and you’ve just _hidden_  it this whole time?! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“There are more important things to deal with —”

“Like hell there are! _You_  are important!” Daisy interrupted.

“Maybe I don’t want saving, Daisy.” He said coldly, narrowing his eyes at her. He was turning her previous arguments against her. “Maybe this is my life and I’m choosing to die if it means that my friends will be okay,”

“Fuck, what if this is it?” Daisy realized, not directly paying attention to him anymore. She paced to the other side of the room, thinking out loud now. “Of course, I bet this is it. This is what does it — you die, and I tear the world apart.”

“Why the hell would you do that?” Coulson frowned.

“Are you kidding me?” She stared at him, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re sitting there asking me why I would lose my shit if you died — when you have _actively_  done the exact same for me?” He shifted uncomfortably.

“That’s different,”

“Like hell it is.”

She stared down at him intently, and he stared out the window. After a minute of consideration, Daisy moved closer to him again and knelt in front of him once more.

“What are you —” He tensed as she reached for his shirt again, pushing the ripped sides out of the way again and touching her fingers against his scar.

She was examining it more directly, now, almost clinically; tracing the edges of it and feeling the way it differed from the rest of his skin.

It made him breathless, and probably not in the way it should have. He swallowed, clenching his jaw as he sat very still.

“We both have the serum,” She murmured, mostly to herself. After another moment, she stood and unbuckled the clip about her waist, letting it fall to the ground as she lifted the bottom of her shirt up. She was wearing leggings, but still, Coulson startled and felt his cheeks turn red before he averted his eyes to the floor. “But my scars are practically invisible.”

“You were,” His voice caught, and he cleared his throat before he tried again, “you were shot, and I was stabbed. They were different injuries.”

“And I also had surgery to remove the bullets. They’d torn up the inside of my body, Phil. I should have more scarring than I do.” Daisy said pointedly, and he glanced up toward her before slowly allowing his eyes to settle on her.

She was holding up her shirt just high enough to reveal her old wounds; the scar tissue was only just lighter than the tone of her skin. They looked smooth, too. Perfectly healed.

Before he knew it, Daisy had reached for his hand and pressed his fingers against them.

“Feel them, see? You can barely tell at all that they’re even there.”

Coulson froze again, his lips parted slightly in surprise over many things. She was right in that the serum seemed to have reacted to her body different than it had his own. She was also allowing him to touch her stomach.

This whole thing; showing one another their scars, allowing them to be touched, talking about the serum they both shared — it was far too intimate.

His fingers trembled against her skin; she was soft, and warm. He wanted to touch more of her.

He gently pulled his hand back, and looked down toward his own knees; a neutral spot.

“You also never presented any of the side effects that I have,” He remembered, talking quietly, respectful of the moment they’d just shared. Whatever it was.

“Which,” She realized, “we later figured was because I’m Inhuman.” He heard the rustle of fabric as she dropped her shirt back into place. “Phil, that’s it!” She knelt and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look her in the eyes again. “Maybe we can use my Inhuman blood to help you!”

She looked so hopeful, but he was terrified to start having that hope.

“Daisy, I’m not Inhuman. Our blood types wouldn’t match — my immune system would attack it. And with everything else I’m trying to stave off... that could kill me.”

“Well then...” She looked desperate. “We’ll talk to Simmons. Figure out a way to make my blood compatible.”

“Daisy, what would potentially save me is exactly what’s incompatible with my body,” Coulson pointed out carefully, and her fingers gripped firmly around his shoulders.

“Then we’ll figure out a way to make your body stronger! So it’ll accept the Inhuman blood!”

“Daisy.” Phil smiled sadly at her. “You’re as determined to save me as I am to save you.”

Her muscles tensed slightly, and her mouth thinned into a straight line. After a beat, she let go of him and got to her feet, stepping away from him.

“Our reasons might be the same, but the circumstances are far different.” She looked at him again, but kept her distance, which actually gave him some relief. The intimacy of the moment had left. “You’re threatening all of humanity by trying to save me. How is allowing you to live a threat to anybody? Except the bad guys?”

“Because it is,” Elena’s voice coming from outside of the pod surprised them both, and they looked to find her standing outside of the door behind Daisy. She wore a grave expression, and Coulson slowly tried to tug his shirt back together best he could, pulling the side of his jacket overtop of it. It didn’t really matter; Elena had obviously already seen it.

“What does that mean?” Daisy demanded, narrowing her eyes. Elena didn’t open the door, but chose to continue speaking through it.

“I met myself. My future self.” She told them, and she appeared quite obviously haunted by that. “She tried to tell me what to do, to stop the world from falling apart, but... whatever she said, she kept also saying that she’d heard the words before. She couldn’t help me.”

“Then what do you mean by —”

“The only thing she seemed sure of that would cause a change was that you were dying,” Elena said toward Coulson, “And that we need to let you die, this time.”

“Hell no!” Daisy blurted immediately, appalled that Elena could even consider the idea.

“She said that you were dying, and that you knew it. She wasn’t wrong about that.” Elena pointed out.

“...Yes.” Coulson replied. Daisy clenched her fists again.

“That is _not_  our solution!” She interjected loudly.

“Just like leaving you alone in the future wasn’t our solution,” Coulson put in challengingly, and she gritted her teeth, growling lowly under her breath in frustration.

“Fine!” She exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. “We’ll call it even on that front, okay? But we are _not_ ,” She glared toward Elena, “letting whatever is happening to you _kill_  you.”

“Did she say anything else?” Coulson wondered. “Future-you? Anything at all?”

Elena was quiet for a long moment.

“Whatever happens... there is a fire, I think.” Her lips trembled. “Mack, he —” She seemed to gather her resolve, and shook her head. “She only had memories of the death and pain that had followed. What she knew to tell me was only what she herself experienced.”

“To keep it from happening, we’ve got to do something new.” Daisy nodded. “Make different choices.”

“But we don’t know what choices were made to cause it!” Elena pointed out. Daisy nodded again.

“Which was why my first idea had been to stay behind.” She glanced back toward Coulson. “And _fine_ , maybe it was a bit brash.”

“A bit.” He muttered sarcastically, but he looked pleased that they weren’t going to argue about that again.

“You need to tell the team.” Elena raised her eyebrows and folded her arms across her chest. “There is more of a chance if we work together on this.”

“Knowing you, that’s probably another change. Stupid future-you probably always kept it a secret.” Daisy rolled her eyes, and Coulson pursed his lips but didn’t disagree with her. “Okay,” Daisy stepped toward the door, “the sooner we get started the better. Let’s go find Simmons first —”

When she pushed the release for the door, it beeped at her and didn’t open. She lifted her eyes from the panel, toward Elena, and pushed the button again. It didn’t open.

“Why is this locked?” Daisy asked as calmly as she could manage.

“May insisted.” Elena answered somewhat apologetically. “We are in the air, completely under the radar. All your banging around earlier could’ve gotten us caught by sonar,”

“Well, we’re done fighting for now, so, you don’t have to worry about that.” Daisy replied, gesturing toward the door. Elena didn’t move to open it.

“Elena?” Coulson questioned, more warningly than Daisy had. He got to his feet and joined Daisy by the door.

“It’s a precaution,” Elena told them, looking more apologetic now as she stepped back away from the pod.

“A precaution for what?” Coulson asked, and it was May who answered,

“Against stupidity.”

Daisy and Coulson both turned toward the window where she was standing, and then Daisy strode over to the other side of the pod to try that door. As expected, it was also locked down.

“Like she just said, we’re done fighting, so,” Coulson started, and May shook her head and folded her arms across her chest.

“The two of you have a tendency to go off half-cocked, especially when the other is involved. I’m not risking that.” She replied with stark honesty. “We’re stuck in the air until I can confirm a secure landing zone and a place for us to stay. The team needs to stick together until we can figure out our next step. Or have you forgotten that SHIELD is public enemy number one?”

“Shit, Talbot,” Daisy remember suddenly, breathless. May nodded.

“That’s one of the problems on the list, yes.”

“Is he okay?” Daisy asked, and May’s gaze softened slightly as she answered,

“He’s alive. In a medically induced coma, but alive.”

“Shit.” Daisy whispered again. Even though it hadn’t been her, she still felt responsible. It was her LMD that had shot him, and while she logically knew she’d had no control over that... well, the rest of the world thought she was responsible, anyway. Shooting a high-ranking officer in the head, causing destruction in cities all over the United States, murdering and degrading her old Director’s body... “If anyone sees my face in public, they’d probably shoot immediately and ask questions never.” Daisy sighed heavily and sat down on the bench seat.

Coulson sat next to her, and put his hand on her shoulder.

“There has to be a way that we can prove it was an LMD and not you,”

“But it’s not just Talbot,” Daisy reminded him. “She’d caused all kinds of widespread damage. Not to mention Ivanov making it look like I brutalized Mace.” Coulson’s arm slid fully around her shoulders and he held her firmly against his side.

“We’ll prove none of that was you.” He promised fiercely.

“First, we have to figure out how to save your life,” Daisy told him, putting her hand on his knee. “Clearing my name can come after that.”

“What are you talking about?” May wondered suspiciously. “Saving your life?” She narrowed her eyes at Coulson.

Coulson hesitated, and Daisy squeezed his knee supportively.

“Show her, Phil.” She encouraged softly. He sighed, and nodded, and shifted forward in the seat to turn a little and show the other two women his scar. When he used his free hand to pull his shirt out of the way, Elena audibly gasped when she realized the full extent of the poisoning.

May looked astounded.

“What is that?” She asked measurably. She stepped closer to the window, but she still didn’t make a move to unlock the doors or actually come in to the pod.

“It’s the serum,” Daisy answered for Coulson. “His body isn’t reacting well to it.”

“The GH formula?” May frowned. “Why now?”

Coulson shrugged, and Daisy gritted her teeth together.

“Not exactly _now_ , is it?” She fussed at him, and he shifted uncomfortably when May raised her eyebrow.

“I’ve known about this for a little while.” Coulson admitted, and May looked furious. She didn’t say anything else yet, though.

“I think we have an idea how to help him. But we need to be out of this box, and we need to talk to Jemma.” Daisy informed May.

“And then what? We have no supplies, no lab, no — damn it, Phil! Why didn’t you tell someone about this when we had the resources?!” May yelled, and Coulson slowly withdrew his arm from around Daisy’s shoulders.

“We were a little too busy dealing with crazy flaming skulls and evil robots,”

“I’m sorry,” Daisy interrupted him sarcastically, “but in what world do you think evil robots take precedence over your own life?”

“In... this world?”

“Shit,” May cursed with a groan.

“ _God_  you make me so angry sometimes.” Daisy curled her lip in frustration, but managed to keep from hitting him again.

“It’s not like I planned on putting it off forever!” Coulson defended himself. “How was I supposed to know we would be kidnapped and thrown into a computer world only to break free and be kidnapped by aliens _in the future_?”

“Look,” May interrupted when Daisy took a threatening step in Coulson’s direction, “I’ll send Simmons down here. But I’m not letting the two of you out.” She side-eyed them both. “Not until I’m sure Daisy’s done throwing you around my plane.”

“Hey, there was equal throwing around,” Coulson protested lamely, glancing at Daisy. She pursed her lips in annoyance.

“We’re in route to a secure safe house,” May informed them. “ETA... two hours. It more than likely won’t have whatever we need for... that,” May gave Coulson’s chest a pointed glance. “But we can settle in and regroup to figure out what we _do_  need.”

“Safe house?” Coulson tensed. “May, if it’s SHIELD, we should probably consider them all to be —”

“It’s one of mine.” May interrupted. “It’ll be fine.”

Coulson narrowed his eyes at her knowingly, and Daisy raised her eyebrow at him.

“By one of yours,” He asked carefully, “you mean one of your mother’s, don’t you.”

May didn’t verbally respond, and Daisy’s other eyebrow lifted to join the first. After a beat, she turned on her heel and left the room, and with an apologetic expression, Elena followed after her.

“No lost love between you and Momma May, huh?” Daisy mused, and Coulson gave her a harrowing look.

“If you ever meet her, you’d be terrified, too.”

 

 

**———**

  
Simmons leaned casually against the wall by the front door, her phone in front of her as if she were texting.

“Okay... go,” She instructed Daisy, who immediately turned toward the door and began fiddling with a small lock pick gun May had let her borrow.

“You know exactly what it is we need, yeah?” Daisy asked as the machine did all the fiddling for her, the lock soon clicking open. “We’re in,” She tucked the pick gun into her pocket and opened the door, the both of them casually walking in as if they’d used a key.

“You find me a microscope, I’ll get everything else.” Simmons confirmed, leading the way around the reception desk and into the back of the veterinary office.

“Hope we clean everything before we use it,” Daisy muttered as they quickly reached the back labs of the office and began perusing cabinets. “Last thing we need is to inject Coulson with dog DNA.”

Simmons snorted and laughed at that, glancing at various medication bottles and plucking out what she needed. There were a few microscopes out on one of the tables, but Daisy found one in a cabinet that she figured wouldn’t be missed quite as immediately.

“You do know that this is only temporary?” Simmons asked her gently as they tucked everything into the small backpack Daisy was carrying. “It won’t truly heal Coulson; it will just abate the symptoms.”

“Until we can figure out how to get at the Patriot serum, yeah,” Daisy nodded.

A few days ago, while they’d been checking through the safe house for supplies, Daisy had discussed with Simmons about her idea to help Coulson, and it had led to a dry joke about the super soldier serum. Simmons had been reminded about her personal project of updating Mace’s Patriot serum in an attempt to keep it from destroying his heart further.

She’d succeeded, but... now, as far as she knew, the new serum was buried under whatever was left of their old base.

So over the days that followed, Simmons had come up with a temporary solution — to derive something out of Daisy’s blood that would at least hold off Coulson’s impending death until they could come up with a plan to get the Patriot serum.

With that serum, Simmons was mostly confident that Coulson’s body could be strong enough to handle a more direct infusion of Inhuman DNA, which would then protect him from the Kree serum the same way that it had protected her.

The irony of using alien DNA to save him from alien DNA that had been used to save him, was not lost on Coulson.

Which all led to Simmons and Daisy breaking into a veterinarian hospital and stealing some supplies.

“Okay, let’s go,” Simmons announced as she zipped the bag closed and tapped Daisy’s shoulder.

“Yeah, there’s a silent alarm. We’ve got maybe five minutes left.” Daisy confirmed, glancing at her watch. “Let’s go out the back.”

“A silent alarm?!” Simmons hissed, hurrying after her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Didn’t want to worry you,” Daisy shrugged, grinning a little haphazardly. “I would’ve warned you if time was getting tight.”

Simmons sighed and rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

“Thank goodness May had a spare signal jammer for us to use,”

“I wonder what other spare spy gadgets she has hidden around that house.” Daisy mused as the two of them walked a quick pace down the alleyway.

Once they reached the main sidewalk, they slowed to a normal speed. Turning around the corner a block down, neither of them reacted when two cop cars with sirens blaring sped by. Half a block later, a nondescript minivan pulled up beside them, and they climbed in.

“Good?” May asked.

“Good.” Daisy nodded, tucking the bag into her lap and patting it.

 

 

**———**

  
“Recon turned up about as much as we expected,” Mack announced tiredly as he and Elena settled into chairs at the kitchen table. “Since we had come back pretty much to the exact moment we’d left, the base is still crawling with soldiers. They’re looking for anything and everything. People, documents,” Mack shrugged, and looked apologetically toward Simmons. “Anything of value from the labs. That, particularly, seems to be their top priority.”

“Damn,” Coulson mused. “So we need to get in there tonight, probably.” Elena shook her head.

“I’m not even sure I would be able to sneak in and out of there without alerting someone. There were soldiers _everywhere_.” She told him.

“Then, we create a distraction.” Daisy replied, and Coulson gave her a warning look. She held her hand up before he could voice his disagreement. “From afar,” she promised, “I can draw them out. Keep them busy while you guys do your thing.”

“It’ll be faster if it’s just one or two people going in,” May added, and Coulson announced quickly,

“Me and Elena.”

“Excuse me?” Daisy raised her eyebrow, the one giving him a warning look this time. “ _You’re_  the one we’re doing this for. Not really great if you get yourself arrested, or worse — shot.”

“Jemma told me exactly what to look for and where to look.” Coulson pointed out. “I know all the in and outs of that base, more than anyone else here. And Elena is quick.”

May looked like she didn’t enjoy this idea much either, but she wasn’t arguing with him about it.

“They have scouts in a perimeter a mile around the base. It was hard enough getting by them this morning, on foot, carrying nothing but a few pistols and binoculars.” Mack said. “It’ll be impossible to have extraction anywhere nearby.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Coulson assured him. “Now, as far as the obvious in and outs of the base...”

“The main hangar entrance is totally destroyed. They haven’t even tried digging through there, yet; I think they dug through a side wall that had collapsed.” Mack smirked a little. “I also think we have someone that can help with that, though.”

“What? What do you mean?” Daisy asked, and Elena got to her feet, walked toward the door, disappeared and then reappeared with a man dressed in Army fatigues, a hood pulled over his head. “What the hell — why didn’t you _start_  with the fact that you’ve kidnapped a soldier?!” Daisy exclaimed, jumping out of her seat.

May, thinking quickly and making her decision even faster, took the man by the arm and thrust him roughly down into the chair that Elena had vacated, yanking the hood off of his head.

He blinked deliriously, his eyes darting around the room as he tried to ascertain where he was.

“Holy fuck,” He blurted, his eyes landing on Coulson. “You _are_  alive.”

“So far,” Coulson mused wryly, and May grabbed the soldier’s chin and forced him to look at her.

“What’s going on at the base? How many of you are there?”

The man’s eyes narrowed in defiance, and Mack immediately got to his feet, towering close enough to the chair that the bound man hesitated, and then answered her,

“We were sent in for retrieval. We’ve been digging and cataloguing what we’ve found.”

“Looking for anything specific?” May asked, not letting go of the grip she had on his jaw. Daisy slowly stepped around to get a better look at him, leaning against the fridge and folding her arms across her chest.

“Yeah. You guys.”

“Yet you seem surprised to see us alive and well,” Coulson pointed out.

“Well, yeah — that place is totally trashed. It looks like a nuclear bomb went off inside.”

Daisy’s heart wrenched at that. Regardless of her struggles with being an agent and her Inhuman-ness, the base had been more of a home than she’d ever had before.

“What about the labs? I assume that you’re keeping whatever you’re finding there.” Simmons spoke up, stepping into his line of sight.

He glanced at her with his eyes, knowing better than to struggle within May’s grip.

“And what are we gonna find there?” He returned, and May let him go only to punch him, sharp and quick. He winced, his tongue darting out to touch his split lip. “General Talbot has requested everything from the labs be sent directly to his office.”

“General Talbot?” Coulson repeated.

“Well, The Brigadier General’s Office.” He narrowed his eyes at Daisy, who squeezed her fingers around her arm a little bit tighter. “Considering Talbot himself is out of commission for the foreseeable future after you —”

“That’s enough.” Coulson interrupted firmly, and to his credit the soldier shut up.

“Has anything bent sent, yet?” Simmons asked quickly, casting a worried glance toward Daisy.

The soldier rotated his jaw and pressed his lips together. May tightened her fist and lifted it back, showcasing that another punch was headed in his direction.

“Not yet.” He huffed, annoyed with himself and the situation he was in. “The truck was still being loaded, at least whenever it was I was last there.”

“Do you know the route?” Daisy asked, and he looked at her. She stepped closer to him, and though the small island counter was between them, that wouldn’t matter — she lifted her hand up, palm facing him. His face blanched.

“Yeah, yeah — do you have a map?” He blurted out, having no way of knowing that Daisy didn’t actually have her powers currently.

Daisy glanced at Coulson. He silently agreed that hijacking the truck would be their best bet, and he slipped into the back part of the house to find Fitz and get his city map from him.

He might’ve thought he was angled away enough that none of them would notice, but Daisy saw how he pressed his palm against his chest as he walked down the hall. Even with the temporary serum in his system, he was getting worse. The worse it got, the faster it spread.

“You’d better not lie to us and give us some fake route,” Daisy threatened the soldier, stepping around the counter to reach him and grip the front of his uniform. “I swear to God if you lie to us...” She trailed off as she felt May’s hand on her shoulder.

The man was staring up at her, wide-eyed, looking more terrified of her than of anyone else in the room who had actually put a hand on him.

“I won’t lie. I swear I won’t lie.” He insisted.

She hadn’t done a thing to him, but he’d heard the stories about what ‘she’d’ done to other people. Daisy let him go and turned away, closing her eyes and breathing slowly. This kid didn’t deserve for her to take her anger out on him. He was just doing his job.

“Start talking,” May ordered a moment later, after Coulson reappeared with Fitz in tow, and spread open the map over the kitchen table.

 

 

 **———**  


“Let me do it,” Daisy told Coulson quietly, as he was strapping on a Kevlar vest. She put her hand on his to stop him, and his expression was indiscernible. He glanced over her; she was already decked out in tactical gear and almost ready to go.

“Daisy,” He started, and she squeezed her fingers around his hand.

“We’re not sneaking onto the base anymore; we don’t need your nerdy know-how for this op,” She lightly teased him for his in-depth knowledge of the old HQ, but then grew serious. “Stay here and rest. Please.”

“I’m fine,” He started to argue, and she raised her eyebrow and tugged loose one of the velcro straps. He noticeably released a breath of relief, and then grimaced.

“You’re not fine.” She pointed out softly. “Elena and I got this.” His expression softened as well, and eventually, he nodded in acquiescence. “Besides,” She grinned a little cheekily, “this wouldn’t be the first time either of us hijacked a well-armed vehicle.”

“You remember what to look for?” He asked, allowing her to help him out of the Kevlar so she could put it on herself.

“Shiny silver suitcase,” She nodded. “If I find more than one, I’ll just grab ‘em all and we can sort through them back here.”

“Be safe.” He said sincerely, pressing the strap firmly closed against her waist. He left his hand there for a moment, and although there were too many layers for Daisy to really feel his touch, it still warmed her nonetheless.

“Get some rest, Phil.” She murmured, resting her hand against his shoulder for a moment.

As she headed out with Elena and May, she paused by Fitz.

“Keep an eye on him?” She requested so that only he could hear. He nodded emphatically.

“Of course.” He assured her. “And I know it’s not priority, but if you happen to see my Dwarves...”

“I’ll grab ‘em.” She nodded as well and gave him a small smile. Then, putting on a stoic face, she grabbed their prisoner and hauled him out the door in front of her. “Time to take you back to your friends.”

“You’re not gonna kill me?” He wondered with surprise, allowing her to push him toward the minivan.

“Whatever it is you’ve heard about me,” Daisy shook her head, “whatever evil things you think I’ve done, that wasn’t me.”

“It sure looked like you.” He commented.

“Yeah, well, that had been the point.” She muttered in annoyance.

 

 

 **———**  


For possibly the most nerve-wracking moment of her entire life, it was all rather... calm. Uneventful.

With Daisy wearing a body cam, Simmons had been able to watch from the safe house as they took control of the army transport truck. There was a ton of stuff that would’ve been nice to have, but it would only weight them down in the long run — they couldn’t stay in the same safe house forever. Simmons had instructed Daisy and Elena on what was most important, and they loaded up their minivan while May made sure all the soldiers stayed Iced and unconscious, including their previous prisoner that they reunited with his squad.

Then they’d taken a circuitous route back to the safe house, making sure they weren’t being followed, and Simmons immediately got to work.

Daisy and Coulson now sat side by side on the couch in the living room, Daisy attached to a somewhat MacGyvered machine that drew her blood, Coulson resting with his sleeve rolled up and his head leaning back against the cushion. Simmons had injected him with the Patriot serum about a half hour ago, and they were all waiting to see how he would react to it.

“Does this mean Coulson will have superpowers, too?” Fitz asked Simmons, where the two of them stood at the island counter that was serving as a makeshift lab table.

“No,” Simmons shook her head. “Well, not like Daisy. The Patriot serum _is_  still at it’s core what it was originally intended to be.” She glanced back toward Coulson, and then to the microscope in front of her. “According to the recent draw, it should be fully ingrained into his system now.”

“But the Director had to take it periodically; it wore off after a while.” Fitz pointed out, and Simmons nodded slowly.

“Yes... and Coulson will, too.”

“But it will be a little more drastic if he misses a dose, won’t it.” Daisy spoke up, tilting her head back against the cushion as well and looking at Coulson. He turned his head to meet her gaze, looking nothing but exhausted at the moment.

This had been a long process, both of them having to have blood drawn periodically to keep an eye on things. Simmons really only had one shot at making this right, so she wanted to cover all the bases she could _before_  she injected the Inhuman serum into Coulson.

“You’re like, In-Kree-Human-Patriot,” Daisy mused thoughtfully, and then snorted.

“Or Kree-In-Patriot.” Coulson tried, and Daisy outright laughed at that.

“That sounds dirty.”

He scowled at her, but then chuckled as well. The machine to Daisy’s right beeped, and Simmons came over to fuss with it.

“How are you feeling, Coulson?” She asked him as she shifted the IV bag over to another machine.

(These they’d taken from a local emergency room storage. She didn’t feel great about that, but she made Mack and Elena promise to return them once they were finished with them.)

“Weird.” Coulson admitted. “But not in a bad way. It’s just...” He looked at his hands for a moment, and then picked up an empty can of beer Mack had been drinking earlier. “I’m used to being able to do somewhat extra-ordinary things with my left hand, but my right...?” He held the can pointedly in his right hand, and casually squeezed it, crumpling it into a ball like it was paper.

“Do you feel dizzy? Any chest pains?” Simmons closed her eyes for a second and glanced down at his shirt. “I mean, outside of the usual...?”

“No,” Coulson shook his head, tossing the crumpled can onto the coffee table and relaxing in his seat again. “No pain at all — that temporary dose did help with the side effects,”

“It just didn’t stop the poison from spreading,” Daisy murmured, reaching over to slightly tug down the collar of his tee. The black veins had spread up the side of his neck, now.

“They’re across my ribs, too.” He admitted quietly, looking at Daisy, letting her see how scared he was.

“It’ll be okay. This’ll fix it.” Daisy promised, having to believe that. She let go of his shirt in favor of holding his hand, and he twisted his wrist so he could thread his fingers around hers.

“And we’re _sure_  Coulson won’t end up being like, Quake 2.0?” Fitz asked, stepping closer to the couch and watching as Simmons connected a line from the machine to a syringe that she then pressed into the inside of Coulson’s elbow.

“He won’t,” Simmons assured yet again. “With the help of some of our things we reacquired from the Army, I was able to separate the aspects of Daisy’s blood that protected her from the GH-325, from the Terrigen-affected cells. Any ‘extra’ side-effects Coulson will have will be all from the Patriot serum.”

“And as far as my dosage?” Coulson asked, his tone neutral as he watched the blood mixture run through the line and into his arm. His hand squeezed Daisy’s tighter; his only tell of his nervousness.

“One of my upgrades had been extending the rate at which the serum dissipates in the body, so, you should be able to go for longer periods of time before injecting yourself again.” Simmons answered, her eyes on the blood pressure and heart monitor machine that was also hooked up to Coulson. “Twice a day should be fine.”

“Should be?” Daisy repeated.

“Well, it had been specialized for Director Mace’s body...” Simmons explained further, somewhat apologetically. “You’re just lucky the two of you were the same blood type,” She told Coulson. “Having already been synthesized for that, I only had to tweak it for the addition of the Inhuman blood from Daisy.”

“I’d worked on an algorithm that told us Mace would’ve had to inject himself three times a day, if he wanted to go a full twenty-four hours as the Patriot.” Fitz added. “So, figuring for size difference, I’d say two injections will be plenty for you.” Coulson frowned a little. “I mean, you know, muscle mass. Not that you aren’t strong, sir, but...”

“Yeah, yeah.” Coulson let him off the hook.

“How long will this take?” Daisy wondered anxiously as Simmons taped a piece of gauze to her arm where her own needle had been removed.

“Probably a few hours. I suggest some rest,” Simmons advised them both. “I’ll bring you some orange juice. Mack’s offered to make you an omelette.”

“It’s gonna be a healthy omelette, isn’t it?” Daisy groaned good-naturedly, dropping her head against the cushion again.

“Your body’s working on creating new blood cells. Trust me, you’ll thank us later,” Simmons smiled at her friend, and Daisy opened her eyes to meet her gaze.

“I’m thanking you now.” She said sincerely, and Simmons’ smile deepened, an understanding look in her eye. She glanced down toward Daisy’s hand clasped within Coulson’s, and then stepped into the kitchen.

Daisy wondered what she saw in all of this, if she saw what Daisy herself was beginning to admit.

 

 

 **———**  


They did both doze off there on the couch, for how long Daisy wasn’t sure. She was awoken by a grunting noise and Coulson disappearing off the couch next to her. Her head had fallen onto his shoulder, so when he leapt up, she jerked awake.

He was apparently already unplugged from all the machines, because he had no problem hurling himself around the couch and back into the hallway. Daisy glanced wildly around for Simmons, didn’t see anyone else in this part of the house, and jumped up to follow him.

She found him in the bathroom, on his knees and retching into the toilet.

“Geez,” She breathed out, sliding next to him and putting a hand on his back. He felt too warm, and she noticed he was sweating, as well. “Is this bad? Should I get Simmons?” She was half wondering toward herself, absently soothing her hand across Coulson’s back as he heaved.

After a minute, he spit and managed to say,

“She told me I might feel a little nauseous.”

“And the fever?” Daisy raised an eyebrow pointedly, sliding her hand up beneath the back of Coulson’s shirt without thinking, pressing her palm against the skin of his back. Yeah, he was burning up.

“My body acclimating,” He replied, his shoulders jerking, and then he ducked his head over the commode again. Daisy looked away to give him some privacy (and so she wouldn’t upchuck, herself), but kept her hand beneath his shirt, rubbing his back.

“If the fever doesn’t go down within an hour, then we’ll have problems.” He added a bit later, resting his cheek against the crook of his arm. Daisy blindly grabbed for the washcloth she knew to be at the side of the sink, and passed it to him. He accepted it gratefully and wiped his mouth, sighing heavily as he sat up straight. “I’ve forgotten how exhausting it is to throw up,” He commented.

Daisy shifted back against the wall opposite the toilet and sink, pushing the door shut as she sat with her feet spread apart.

“Come here,” She took his other arm and tugged him toward her, and he must’ve really felt like shit because he didn’t fight her as she let him lean his back against her front, sitting nestled between her legs. He was definitely too warm, but she ignored her own discomfort at that for the more amazing feeling that he was letting her cuddle him.

It took her a minute, but she suddenly realized something that had her putting her hands on Coulson’s shoulders and leaning him forward slightly.

“Phil, take your shirt off,” She told him, and he made a weird noise.

“What?” He wondered incredulously, his muscles tensing as if he only now just realized the intimacy of their position.

“I think it’s worked,” She encouraged him, hopeful. “I only felt your scar, on your back. Nothing else.” Well, she’d felt some pretty impressive muscle, too, but she wasn’t about to say that out loud.

“Really?” He sounded carefully hopeful, as well, and peeked down the collar of his shirt.

“Oh, come on — just take it off,” She complained, wanting to see for herself. She grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it up, and they were both surprised when he lifted his arms to let her pull it over his head.

He finished tugging his shirt off of his arms as she examined his back. He had some scars that made her wonder about past ops, and of course the big one behind his heart, but there was no evidence of the Kree poisoning at all.

“Wow,” Coulson whispered, his head ducked as he pressed his fingers against his chest. He never would’ve thought he’d be happy to see that raised, pink scar on his chest — but there it was, looking completely back to normal.

“It really did work.” Daisy commented, amazed. She hadn’t been one-hundred percent sure about their plan, but now as she ran her fingers along his back, her relief was immense. She was thinking about what to tell Simmons as her hand slid across the dip of his spine and curve of his shoulders, but then she stopped thinking about Simmons all together.

She’d always known he could fight, but had he always been built like this? Or was this some aspect of the Patriot serum?

“Daisy?” Coulson asked, breathless.

“Just admiring my handiwork,” She replied cheekily, seeing his ears shift upward as he smiled. She trailed her fingertips down the back of his ribs, and then around front, now feeling blindly where she knew he’d previously been effected by the poison. His skin, there too, was smooth.

Well, actually, there was chest hair and dips and curves of muscle, but, otherwise smooth. No poison. Which was what she was focusing on; the lack of poisoned veins jutting out of his skin. She was _not_  focusing on that trail of hair that led down to... there was his belly button...

“ _Daisy_ ,” Coulson breathed out her name again, sounding half-desperate this time. Slowly, so that he had more than enough time to push her away, she wrapped her other arm around his torso. He didn’t push her away, so she tugged him back, once more guiding him to lean against her.

He did, and she closed her eyes as she rested her chin on his shoulder, pressing her cheek against his. He returned the pressure, and she let her exploring hand dip lower, her fingers sliding beneath the waistband of the sweatpants he was wearing. His chest heaved with a breath and she could feel his pulse racing, so she rested her other hand against his chest and brushed her thumb soothingly over his heart.

He moaned even before her hand reached him, finding him partially aroused within the confines of his boxer-briefs. She kept her eyes closed as she squeezed his length, focusing on the feel of him and the sounds he was making.

He shifted his hips upward, pushing into her hand as his arousal grew, his fingers wrapping around her thighs as if he could do nothing else but hold on. His breathing sped up and he relaxed his head back against her shoulder, letting himself enjoy the moment, and she tucked her hand into the opening of his briefs, fisting him firmly against her palm.

“Oh,” He moaned again, “ _fuck_.”

Daisy bit her lip and tucked her face into his neck, continuing to slide her fist over him even as she tried to stifle her own burst of arousal at the way he’d cursed. His whole body seemed to shiver against her, and she marveled at how well they fit like this,

\- and then his stomach heaved again.

“Fuck,” He half-choked, scrambling to pull her hand out of his pants and push himself toward the toilet.

He didn’t quite make it, this time; bile hitting both their legs, and the floor before he managed to get himself overtop the toilet.

Daisy stayed where she was, knowing that she looked rather dazed. Half of her was still amazed by the feel of his cock and the sound of his moan, and half of her was grossed out that she’d just been puked on.

By the man she’d just been giving a pretty damn good hand-job to.

“Oh my God,” He moaned in despair, horrified. “Oh my God.”

“It’s okay,” She managed, and her voice sounded odd to herself. She heard him spit, and tear off some toilette paper to wipe his mouth with, and then he hid his face in the crook of his arm again.

“This is not okay. This is very much not okay.”

“In all fairness, my timing could probably have been better.” She reasoned, trying not to look at where her pants were starting to feel soaked through. If she thought about that too much, she would throw up herself, and she didn’t want to make him feel any worse about it than he already did.

“You’re never going to come near me again.” He groaned, his voice still muffled into his arm.

“... If you’ve noticed, I haven’t run out of here screaming, yet.” Daisy pointed out. He didn’t say anything for a beat, and then slowly lifted his head. He still wouldn’t quite look directly at her, and she didn’t blame him. She glanced over at the shower to their left, and pushed herself up to her feet. “C’mon,” She held her hand down to him.

“What?” He stared at said hand, the muscle in his jaw twitching.

“We should clean ourselves up,” She told him softly, and when he just looked up at her, she pushed her pants down to her ankles, standing there in just her shirt and underwear.

Coulson swallowed, his eyes darting down her legs momentarily before he looked back up at her. She held her hand toward him again, and this time he accepted it, standing in front of her.

He stared at her, wide-eyed, still looking rather frazzled, so she shucked her shirt off next. She stepped out of her pants as she let it fall to the floor, and Coulson made a sort of whimpering sound in the back of his throat. She gave him a small smile, and then stepped around him to turn the shower on. He quickly stumbled out of his sweatpants and underwear, turning around in time to see her drop her bra and panties to the floor and step over the edge of the tub into the shower.

The curtain was half pulled and she disappeared behind it, leaving him staring open-mouthed at the space she’d just vacated.

“If this is a drug-induced dream, it’s way better than Tahiti,” He breathed out, ducking into the shower after her, following the sound of her laugh.

 

 

**———  
**   


“Daisy?” Coulson waited until she lifted her head from his chest and looked up into his eyes. “Promise me something.” He requested softly and earnestly, brushing her hair away from her face. She furrowed her brow questioningly, but nodded for him to continue. “When you run off,”

“Coulson,” She chided.

“When you run off,” He said again more firmly — they both knew it was incredibly likely that she would. “Promise me one thing.”

“What?” She whispered, not sure if this would be a promise that she would be able to keep. But she had to hear him out, she owed him that. She owed him a lot.

He looked deeply into her eyes for a long moment before he finished his request.

“Take me with you.”

She blinked at him in surprise, and then nodded, sliding further up the bed to touch her forehead against his.

“I promise.” She replied quietly and seriously, kissing him.

This was one she would keep.

* * *

 


End file.
